The organization published on Tuesday a report titled “Altering the Trends: The BBC’s Biased Reporting on the Syrian Conflict”. The report confirms that the BBC’s reporting of the Syrian conflict is biased.
In the report, Rethink Rebuild Society analyzed 309 BBC Online articles on Syria, published between September and December 2016, the span corresponding with the fighting over and the fall of Aleppo.
The report sought to determine: "How attack perpetrators are identified within article headlines; where attack perpetrators are identified within the article texts; and how Assad’s name is used within article headlines.
The findings of the report showed that Assad regime and its ally Russia were only identified as the perpetrators of the attacks in 11% of the article headlines. Out of 309 analyzed articles, there were 61 reports of attacks or crimes. Of these 61, 38 were committed by Assad regime and/or Russia. However, the BBC identified Assad/Russia as the perpetrators in only 4 of these article headlines.
ISIS was identified in 100 per cent of the article headlines detailing attacks which it committed (in nine of nine articles), and the US-led Coalition forces were identified in 100 per cent of article headlines detailing attacks committed by them (in four of four articles), according to the report.
Biased coverage of the BBC was not only in regards to the reference to Assad and allies as perpetrators in the article headlines, but also was in the lack of identification or in the vague identification of them as the perpetrators within the text of many articles, the report says.
“Eight articles, for example, neglected to mention Assad/Russia at all as the attack perpetrators. An additional thirteen articles identified their involvement well into the article text, namely in paragraphs 3-12 or in the video clips accompanying the articles,” the report read.
The report also highlighted the fact that BBC has never connected Assad’s name to any attacks or criminal activity, but rather, he was depicted as a benevolent figure.
The BBC’s reporting of the events in Syria has long been a subject that provokes protests and complaints from Syrians inside Syria and abroad. Such protests have revolved around an under-representation of the Assad regime’s crimes in reports as compared to those committed by other parties to the conflict.
To read the full report, please click
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